Graduate Students Honored During AAG Regional Division Annual Fall Meetings for Outstanding Work
The American Association of Geographers (AAG) announces the recipients of the 2016 Council Award for Outstanding Graduate Student Paper at a Regional Meeting. Graduate student AAG members from around the U.S. participated by submitting to their region’s paper competition and attending their regional division fall meeting. A student paper from seven out of nine AAG regions was chosen by a jury of AAG regional division leaders and the honors for this inaugural award were given at each of the division meetings.
The award is designed to encourage graduate student participation at AAG regional division meetings and support their attendance at major AAG annual meetings. Each awardee will receive $1,000 in funding for use towards the awardee’s registration and travel costs to the AAG annual meeting.
Jacob Watkins, recipient of the East Lakes (ELDAAG) division’s award, is a master’s student at Western Michigan University. The award was presented by AAG President Glen MacDonald and ELDAAG Regional Councillor Patrick Lawrence.
Paul Miller, recipient of the Southeast division’s award, is a Ph.D. student at the University of Georgia.
Melody Lynch, recipient of the New England\St. Lawrence Valley division’s award, is a master’s student at McGill University.
Ashley Marie Fent, recipient of the Pacific Coast division’s award, is a Ph.D. student at the University of California – Los Angeles.
The Middle States and Mid-Atlantic regional divisions did not issue an award in this category this year.
Kathleen Epstein, recipient of the Great Plains/Rocky Mountains (GPRM) division’s award, is a master’s student at Montana State University. Her paper is titled, “The multiple meanings of ecosystem management: A historical analysis of modern environmental conflict in the Greater Yellowstone.” Pictured from left to right are AAG Executive Director Doug Richardson, Vice President of GPRM Brandon J. Vogt, awardee Kathleen Epstein and AAG Past President Sarah Bednarz.
Stephanie Mundis, recipient of the Southwest (SWAAG) divisions’ award, is a master’s student at New Mexico State University. Her paper is titled “Spatial distribution of mosquitoes that vector Zika, dengue, and West Nile Virus in New Mexico” and included co-authors: Michaela Buenemann, Kathryn A. Hanley and Nathan Lopez-Brody.
Jason LaBrosse, recipient of the West Lakes division’s award, is a master’s student at the University of Northeastern Illinois. His paper is titled, “The Relationship Between Concentrated Commodified Pets Populations and the Urban Environment of Chicago.”
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Geographers do their research at a distance, build their toolkits… and find community
Scaling up AAG’s Support for Students and Early-Career Geographers
By Julaiti Nilupaer and Coline Dony
By definition, geographers study such a variety of places and spaces. Some choose to do their research about geographies near their university, and others are drawn to distant geographies. These choices were seriously challenged or derailed during the 2020-2021 academic year, which coincided with the rise of COVID-19.
Locations of about 100 students who participated in the “AAG Learning Series for Graduate Students” and their respective research sites. Dots represent the locations of students’ current universities. Triangles represent the general locations of students’ research sites.
“Focus group discussions and oral history interviews have been put on a halt. The pandemic and lockdown has made fieldwork impossible.”
“My dissertation proposal includes interviews and focus groups, all interaction moved online, getting attention is difficult.”
“The plan was in-person landscape analysis & participant observation of historic Black spaces and I cannot due to IRB guidelines.”
“This process has been very challenging for me given the isolation and precariousness of the funding situation.”
These are just a sampling from among more than 800 graduate students who registered for at least one of the limited-capacity workshops in the “AAG Learning Series for Graduate Students.” Many also shared feelings of extreme isolation, beyond the already-difficult isolation graduate students often confront; some felt obstructed in the research they had planned, proposed, defended, or already started; some felt disoriented as their programs faced budgetary cuts, their travel plans were cancelled, or their advisors asked them to change research topics or questions; some experienced all of the above or had set graduate school aside to shift their entire focus to personal circumstances.
Learning Series for Graduate Students (2020-2021)
In the Spring of 2020, two AAG members – Brittany Lauren Wheeler (Clark University) and Dydia DeLyser (California State University, Fullerton) – volunteered for AAG’s COVID-19 Rapid Response Task Force. They had the foresight to see these challenges approaching. Wheeler and DeLyser co-wrote a proposal for the Task Force that suggested a “Methods Training program” to support graduate students in adapting their research to the new realities of pandemic life. Their idea turned into the Learning Series for Graduate Students, a virtual series accessible to graduate students with an AAG membership. With the help of a Selection Committee, a CFP was developed to call upon instructors to propose virtual workshops and seminars. The selection committee was composed of faculty at all levels and a graduate student: Lindsay Naylor (Chair, University of Delaware), Dydia DeLyser (California State University, Fullerton), Adriana E. Martinez (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville), Skye Naslund (University of Washington), and Yuqin Jiang (University of South Carolina). They selected 14 proposal ideas out of 28.
The 12 completed workshops and seminars in the series thus far, have served some 10% of AAG’s graduate student membership, or a total of 243 graduate students. During these workshops, graduate student participants gained or advanced their knowledge and skills in writing, mixed-methods research, qualitative research; used social media and its data; or learned to work with different tools, such as Jupyter Notebook, Google Colab, GeoPandas, SaTScan, ATLAS.ti, Miro, Google Maps, and ArcGIS StoryMaps. Besides that, each offering had a social or networking component, which allowed students to connect with each other. Their experiences were generally positive (see the photo below, find more student quotes here, and Tweets related to the #GradResearchDuringCOVID# here).
A screen capture from Dr. Aparna Parikh and Dr. Karen Paiva Henrique’s workshop on “Critical Visual Methods for Fieldwork at a Distance.”
The series also included two workshops offered by Beverley Mullings and Linda Peake, who are among the co-founders of the AAG Mental Health Affinity Group. Although they did not cover a geography method, the selection committee for the series wanted to add workshops on mental health and acknowledge that what was being asked of our community of graduate students was more than just to simply “adapt” their research during the pandemic: they also needed support for maintaining their mental health and wellbeing.
Throughout this program, the geographers in training have shown resilience and perseverance, openness to sharing their struggles with others, and the fortitude to see past the precious time they felt was lost.
Building Your Geographer’s Toolkit and Community (2022)
The 2020-2021 COVID-19 Task Force program barely reached the tip of the iceberg. Only 1 in 4 registrants gained access, due to the limited seats. The good news is that the AAG Council renewed and increased funding for this program for 2022.
To scale this program up, AAG is taking a number of steps in the coming months. For example, we plan to create several selection committees (instead of just one), each with a particular focus, such as computational methods, and methods for qualitative data, mixed data, collecting data, visualizing data, and so on.
The renewed program could also potentially create offerings for new audiences, such as recently graduated students in non-academic jobs who are looking to continue to receive career advice, learn new tools, hear about the unique perspective they can bring in terms of advocacy or professional ethics, and most of all, keep in touch with a community of geographers.
To make sure graduate students are involved in this program beyond just being workshop participants, AAG is building this scaled-up program with input and support from the AAG Graduate Student Affinity Group (GSAG). AAG is also thinking about funding Graduate-Led Working Groups and hiring an AAG Graduate Intern to help facilitate the program.
AAG is planning an all-day event on Friday, September 10, 2021. If you have ideas, suggestions, or are interested in being involved in this program as a graduate student, instructor, selection committee member, or as an AAG Specialty Group leader, find more details and how to register at this link (free for anyone, members and non-members).
“The whole world turned upside down in the last year, and none of us are untouched,” said Gary Langham, our Executive Director. And yet, invoking former AAG president Will Graf’s favorite line, Gary reminds us, “it’s a good day for Geography.” Indeed, we believe, and we strive to lighten up another day, for another young geographer, who belongs to our global community of geographers.
This month, I am using the privilege of this space to reflect on the rising tide of nationalism, reactionary populism, and authoritarianism that has washed over the world in the last decade – from Brazil to Hungary, Russia to the Philippines, India to the US and beyond.
I do so from my perspective as a Chinese American geographer who studies contemporary Tibet. I suggest that binary thinking and academic un-freedom threaten to foreclose the potential for geographers’ (and others’) research and teaching to make a productive difference toward a livable and dignified planetary future.
Let me start with an example. In September, I was invited to provide testimony to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China for a hearing on “China’s environmental challenges and U.S. responses,” a topic chosen in anticipation of the 2021 UNCCC (COP 26) conference in Glasgow in early November. Dominant U.S. discourse focuses on the fact that China’s annual CO2 emissions are now more than double those of the US. As US-China relations have rapidly deteriorated into what some are calling the ‘new Cold War’, this has led to the repetition of the idea that ‘China is the biggest climate culprit.’ Yet, from the perspective of climate justice, this ignores the fact that China’s per capita emissions are still less than half those of the U.S., and that, since its annual emissions only overtook those of the US in 2006, its cumulative emissions are currently just over half of those of the United States. The point is not that these per capita and cumulative emissions should be equalized – that would be utterly disastrous, especially for the people already suffering the most from climate change – but rather that this fact need to be kept in mind when crafting solutions and before apportioning blame.
Most of my testimony focused on the ways in which one particular policy, which has been promoted in the name of climate change adaptation, is neither adaptive nor just for Tibetan herders in the PRC. However, as a US citizen and a scholar concerned with climate justice, I also felt compelled to argue that, rather than dwell on blaming China for its current annual emissions, it would be more productive to aim for true bilateral cooperation toward a rapid energy transition in both countries. This would include trying to avoid the emissions locked into China’s recently built coal-fired power plants, through commitments to decommission coal generators ahead of schedule and to have a coal consumption cap with regulatory consequences, but it would also include a plan and concrete policies that can enable the US to meet its target of cutting emissions by 50% from 2005 levels by 2030.
It was thus deeply disappointing when a representative (from the same political party as myself, I would add) who came in midway through the virtual hearing stated, “In 1990, greenhouse gas emissions from China were 9% of the world’s emissions and today it’s [28%]….America has gone from 17% in 1990 to 12% today…We are aggressively moving in our country to address this…What can we do to really wake up the world to the fact that China’s bad actions are not limited to forced labor camps….but they are [also] destroying the world’s environment?…” He then asked me directly, “What can we do to tell the world about [China as a bad actor] and get this [message] out there more effectively?”
I was, I admit, flabbergasted at the image of the US as a paragon of aggressive action on climate change given the last four years – or the last thirty. It is widely accepted that the Trump Administration’s decision to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement provided a clear opportunity for China to step into the void of global climate leadership. However, when I tried to articulate my opposition to his framing, the representative suggested that this was tantamount to me condoning what is happening in Xinjiang, referring to the crisis of extrajudicial mass incarcerations of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims, and the systematic destruction of their culture, from the desecration of sacred sites to the criminalization of ordinary forms of religious observance.
As geographers, our eyes should be open to the fact that we are witnessing broad patterns, not isolated events.
What I want to point out here is a Manichean view of the world in which everything is only black or white, good or bad – “you’re either with us or against us” – where critique of one’s own country’s policies can only mean that you must be “for the other side.” This type of dualism also characterizes the position of the Qiao Collective (a group of self-identified diasporic ethnic Chinese who offer an anti-imperialist critique of the US), in its claims that the Xinjiang disappearances and incarcerations in mass internment camps are a myth, a politically motivated lie, a false name for an actually well-justified “de-radicalization program.” Their denial is interwoven with a heavy dose of whataboutism, the idea, for example, that the US has no right to critique the crackdown on and jailing of protestors in Hong Kong, given its own plague of racialized police violence.
I am not saying it is useless to point out hypocrisy – just that we can’t stop there. We also need to acknowledge that none of us have a pure position from which to stand. Furthermore, especially as geographers, our eyes should be open to the fact that we are witnessing broad patterns, not isolated events. Rather than ‘us vs. them,’ a more perceptive (and geographical) analysis could start from what geographer Gillian Hart calls relational comparison, an understanding of global processes as the result of interlinked trajectories of socio-spatial change. Understanding Xinjiang is not just a question of understanding the authoritarian Chinese state (though that’s certainly necessary); it’s also linked to transnational processes of “carceral capitalism” and “terror capitalism.”
A second example comes in the form of a resolution, introduced earlier this month by one of the nine elected regents of the University of Colorado, where I work, calling for a ban on mandatory training programs on diversity and on any teaching that acknowledges the existence of unconscious or structural racism. This is of a piece with Trump’s executive order banning diversity training based on critical race theory, calling it “divisive, anti-American propaganda,” and the recent hysteria over the purported teaching of critical race theory in K-12 schools. As of August, 27 states had introduced bills or taken other steps to restrict the teaching of critical race theory or otherwise limit discussions of racism.
As many have pointed out, this is a misuse of the term ‘critical race theory,’ a scholarly approach grounded in critical legal studies that investigates the ways in which race and racism are imbricated with law – e.g. red-lining, the Asian Exclusion Act of 1924, or the fact that Native Americans were not guaranteed the right to vote in all states until 1962. It is a sophisticated set of concepts and tools most often taught in specialized graduate seminars and used in research – including that done by geographers. To quote ethnic studies professor Jennifer Ho, “saying that critical race theory is being taught in K-12 classrooms is like saying your seventh grader is learning electrical engineering.” Teachers say they’re being banned from teaching concepts they don’t teach anyway.
But the issue is much bigger than just making a generalized bogeyman of a precise and specific scholarly concept, or of ascribing false beliefs to it. Many of the bans are so broad that they effectively force teachers to self-censor any discussion having to do with race at all. Consider Southlake Texas, where reality outdid satire recently when an administrator advised teachers that having a book on the Holocaust in their classroom necessitated giving students access to a book from “an opposing perspective,” and teachers reported being “literally afraid we’re going to be punished for having books in our classes.” In such a classroom, presumably, the basic historical facts of the territory that is now the United States, which very much include indigenous genocide and slavery, would also be off limits.
I’m actually pretty used to hearing about bans on concepts and books in classrooms in the name of “national unity” – in Tibet. Of course, the scope of educational censorship is significantly wider and the punishments far harsher in China. I am not positing an equivalence, but rather a family resemblance in the ways in which a national drive to reduce “divisiveness” undermines the value of scholarly research and trust in educators. Most recently, departments and institutes of Tibetan studies have been closed in Chinese universities, and social scientists have been warned that it is no longer permissible to do research focused on “a single ethnic group,” all in the name of “forging the communal consciousness of the Chinese nation.” The current assimilationist drive is a deliberate effort to replace ethnic consciousness and identity with a nationally unified one. Consequently, it is not permissible for teachers to state anything other than the accepted line about Han benevolence toward Tibetans. Nor can anyone talk about the actual historical-geographical processes by which the current Chinese geo-body has come to be as it now is. Let’s not get to a point where the same is true of the United States.
I titled this month’s column using a word that is ancient in origin, derived from the same Dutch root that gave us the English language “freight,” evoking heavy cargo transported from place to place around the globe. Like it or not, we all carry the cargo of previous generations, for both better and worse. Denying these inheritances, forcefully eradicating or rejecting difference in the name of the nation, drawing irreconcilable lines of enemy and friend, as dominant forces around the world increasingly incite us to do, will only create even more frightening legacies with which future generations must grapple.
Please note: The ideas expressed in the AAG President’s column are not necessarily the views of the AAG as a whole. This column is traditionally a space in which the president may talk about their views or focus during their tenure as president of AAG, or spotlight their areas of professional work. Please feel free to email the president directly at emily [dot] yeh [at] colorado [dot] edu to enable a constructive discussion.
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A Walk Down NYC’s Re-Named Streets
In the wake of protests for racial justice following George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis by police in 2020, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio pledged to rename five streets, one in each borough, in honor of the movement. In Manhattan, Black Lives Matter Boulevard was co-named at 1 Centre Street, a block that is home to the city’s Municipal Building, City Hall, and the Department of Education. In addition to these namings, the city funded a Black Lives Matter Mural on Fifth Avenue in front of Trump Tower, a mere five blocks (and six-minute walk) from the AAG’s Hilton Midtown hotel conference center. University of California Berkeley Professor Brandi Thompson Summers has examined Black Lives Matter murals like these around the country, and notes many of them are “visually stunning.” Yet she writes with concern how they “superficially stylize Blackness rather than respond to Black demands for justice” and employ what she calls “Black aesthetic emplacement,” coopting struggles for justice while political and economic elites obscure historic and ongoing structural injustices that hurt communities of color. Indeed, the first Black Lives Matter street painting in New York City was on Fulton Street, in the historically Black Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant, organized not by city leaders but by a local nonprofit theater and designed and completed by local activists and artists.
Painters of Black Lives Matter mural on Fifth Avenue, New York City. By Anthony Quintano, Flickr. Creative Commons license
Also at 1 Centre Street is the eastern historic extent of the African Burial Ground National Monument, the resting site for the remains of over 15,000 free and enslaved African-American and Black New Yorkers; it was in use from the 1630s through 1795. The visitors’ center at the site, on the ground floor of the Federal building built there in the 1990s, has a section on the extensive activism from that same period, which led to the establishment of the National Monument.
New York City’s efforts to engage its layered history through street renaming is characteristic of efforts around the country in recent years, where geographer and past AAG president Derek Alderman—who has tracked nationwide street renamings to honor Martin Luther King and other Black leaders1—has noted in an interview with Bloomberg City Lab,“a bit of catch-up going on.” Founded on the systematic dispossession of the Indigenous Lenape People, New York City has quite a lot of catching up to do, especially in light of its long history of ties to slavery and the slave trade, repressive violence against Black New Yorkers such as during the 1863 Draft Riots, and systematic Black dispossession and erasure during Title I Urban Renewal and today as residents face eviction and displacement. Indeed – many of the city’s central streets—Houston (pronounced How-ston), Stuyvesant, Delancey, Duane, Mott, and Schermerhorn, to mention but a few—have connections to and profited from the slave trade. Although these street names remain, racial-justice movements are among the key catalysts in contemporary street renamings. We can see these contestations unfold, in various layers, by walking New York City’s named and renamed streets.
New York City has renamed over 1,600 of its streets, parks, plazas, highways, and other public infrastructure, according to retired urban planner Gilbert Tauber.2 In his recent book, Names of New York, Joshua Jelly-Schapiro, an American geographer and writer, connects street names with stories of how various populations leave their mark on the city. Writes Jelly-Schapiro in The New York Review of Books: “If landscape is history made visible, the names we call its places are the words we use to forge maps of meaning in the city.”
Leonard Bernstein Place, named by Mayor Dinkins in 1993. Wally Gobetz / Creative Commons License
Types and Forms of NYC Street Renamings
New York City is in a constant state of flux and remaking, with street renamings no exception. In the 18th and 19th centuries, as encroaching colonization overrode the ancestral landscapes and place-names of the Lenape people, and then the succeeding pastoral places of New York like Bloomingdale, functions and landscapes of place were entirely transformed and renamed (to what we know as the Upper West Side, in the case of Bloomingdale).3 Starting in the 20th century, distinctive city procedures evolved for renaming processes, with distinct purposes, politics, and means of recognition.
Co-names (sometimes known as secondary names) for community leaders, as defined by Community Boards, are named for local activists who have passed away. Those outside the neighborhood might not know them, but residents from the area will have appreciation for their work, and these community leaders represent New York City’s diverse populations. For example, consider the portion of Morningside Drive in Manhattan, co-named Marie Runyon Way. Runyon was a tenant activist who fought the wholesale demolition of Single-Room Occupancy (SRO) buildings on her street. Many of Morningside Drive’s SROs have since been demolished, but her legacy remains on this street sign.
Co-names for well-known public figures, by contrast, can boost property values and accelerate processes of dispossession and erasure through place-making and what Bourdieu might refer to as ”distinction.”4Brian Goldstein’s bookRoots of the Urban Renaissance examines the coalition of racially inclusive economic-development boosterism that emerged from initial 1960s’ battles between capitalist developers and radical social movements in Harlem. Rose-Redwood looks at name changes in Harlem including the changes from 125th Street to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in 1984, and from Lenox Avenue/Sixth Avenue to Malcolm X Boulevard in 1987. Note both Goldstein and Rose-Redwood, renaming in Harlem was part of a nationwide movement calling for the cultural recognition of African Americans, even as this movement saw re-naming as a device for economic-development and increasing property values elsewhere in New York City, including on the city’s Upper West Side.
Finally, honorific re-namings might serve as placemaking devices or commemorate city history, even when not named for an individual or institution. This was precisely the impetus for renaming 6th Avenue “Avenue of the Americas” in 1945, to highlight the establishment of the United Nations and the location of its headquarters several avenues east, and as a nod to the Organization of American States. In the context of the World Trade Center, collective memory of trauma and loss loom large in renaming processes across the city that memorialize those lost in 9/11.
Analysis of Renaming and Its Functions in New York City
Lessons emerge from the different types of NYC street renamings and co-namings. First, (1), co-naming rarely replaces the old (and renaming does not always do so, either); the old name often lingers on as a palimpsest. (2) Name changes are often advanced for placemaking and economic-development boosterism. And (3) Name changes can emerge from genuine efforts to foster a more inclusive city, honoring local communities and advocates.
1) renaming as palimpsest
Street renamings – whether co-names, secondary names, or, in some cases, full renamings – do not always fully “replace” the city streets’ original names. Indeed, by contrast, the new names often layer on top of the old. In some cases, residents will continue to refer to streets by their original names, including Harlem residents who say “Lenox” and not “Malcolm X” Boulevard (Google Maps, perhaps an arbiter of authority, recognizes both). With community co-names, there are typically two street signs, one placed atop the other, to designate the simultaneous presence of multiple names. Palimpsests, as scholars like Schein and Bloch discuss, are layered tapestries where the past never disappears but melds or joins with new layers to produce a different image or subjective experience (Schein explores “erasure and over-writing and co-existence” of American suburban landscape imaginaries in the Lexington, KY suburb of Ashland Park, and Bloch considers layers of mural and graffiti art in Los Angeles). Likewise, New York City names have residues informed by residents’ memories and life experiences; they cannot easily be decreed away. Yet just as how “modern” New York and its residents are in constant and rapid flux – experiencing new development, large-scale projects, and displacement – city streets change. That longtime residents in particular sometimes resist name changes speaks to their embodied memories of times before name changes, and community resistance to top-down government or developer tactics (as in section 2, below). Street renamings also speak to residents’ political struggles and activism. As an example, renaming 125th Street in Harlem to Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. speaks to the activism and experiences of central Harlem residents, and resident efforts to prevent developer-backed name changes like “South of Harlem,” or SoHa, have largely been successful. General Lee Avenue (named for Confederate General Robert E. Lee), which runs through the Fort Hamilton military base in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, has yet to be changed. Yet some renamings do successfully and fully replace former names. The horrific subway wreck on Malbone Street in Brooklyn in 1919 led to the renaming of that street to Empire Boulevard, and with time, the new name stuck. Fully renaming streets may affect memory different than secondary or co-naming actions, as might the conditions under which the renaming takes place (in this case, a tragedy).
2) renaming for profit
As Rose-Redwood explores, renaming numbered streets such as Amsterdam Avenue in the Upper West Side helped cultivate a sense of “place” in the neighborhood, which drove up property values. Such placemaking efforts also explained the city council’s impetus for renaming 6th Avenue “Avenue of the Americas.” Today, apartment-hunting websites like Street Easy are keen to explore street renamings and their roles in city placemaking.
Perhaps even more cynically, we could think of renamings by New York City public officials as small-scale symbolic politics that distract from material politics of inequality and redistribution. The New York City Department of Transportation has comparatively full control over streets, and name changes can be more affordable and less politically controversial “wins” for city leaders than major changes to political economy or democratic representation. Sharine Taylor, writing on the case of Toronto, worries that renamings might even be employed to “quell concerns” by residents demanding more structural material changes.
3) renaming for inclusion
In a city that is majority nonwhite and nearly 37% foreign-born, changing street names can make New York City feel less alienating and more inclusive, especially when streets are co-named for community heroes with local ties. In that frame, and especially when the changes are demanded by local residents, a renaming can be an act of cultural citizenship. Renaming also offers an important opportunity to think about the gender politics of street names in the past and present.5 And importantly, long after name changes are enacted, we are all left with an intricate palimpsest of street names that better reflects the demographic diversity of New York City.
Conclusion
Even in the context of over 1,600 streets, parks, plazas, and highways that have been re-named in just the past 200 years of New York City’s history, we might consider just how many streets have not been renamed. Houston, Stuyvesant, Delancey, Duane, Mott, and Schermerhorn are just some names intimately tied into New York City’s identity that are also associated with Dutch and English settler colonialism and the trans-Atlantic slave trade. These names are not peripheral to the city’s political geography: Peter Stuyvesant, as one example, enslaved over 40 people and was a renowned bigot, with white supremacist values and a desire to expand slavery across the hemisphere. NYC places continue to bear Stuyvesant’s name: the Stuyvesant Town housing developments, the historically Black (and gentrifying) Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, and the top-performing Stuyvesant High School.6
A full renaming of problematic New York streets or public infrastructure is not possible or likely. Instead, they present New Yorkers and visitors an opportunity to examine the city’s origins, which reveal how racism, genocidal projects against Indigenous Peoples, and the slave trade played major roles in structuring the city and its place-making. Yet street renamings also reveal efforts by city residents and elected officials to create a more just city and built environment, adding to that history. When in town for the 2022 AAG Annual Meeting, come discover the contradictions and narratives of New York City’s many streets and places for yourself.
Stefan Norgaard is a PhD candidate in Urban Planning at Columbia University and a member of the AAG2022 Arrangements Committee. The author would like to thank his colleagues on the committee, Tamar Y. Rothenberg, Professor and Chair of theDepartment of History at Bronx Community College-CUNY; and Jason B. Greenberg, Professor of Geography at Sullivan University, for their reading and suggestions for this article.
Footnotes
1“Street names and the scaling of memory: the politics of commemorating Martin Luther King, Jr within the African American community,” Area 35(2): 163–173).
2 For a map showing the long churn of renaming in New York since the colony was founded, see Constantine Valhouli’smap of early place names.
3 The story of the Bloomingdale district is related to the 1811 Commissioners’ street grid plan and the eventual development of Manhattan and 125th St. Thus, renamings erased the informal farm-and-estate community when development crept north.
4Indeed, notes Rose-Redwood (2008) in his article “From Number to Name: Symbolic Capital, Placesof Memory and the Politics of Street Renaming in New York City”: street (re)-naming can advance an “elite project of symbolic erasure and forced eviction, on the one hand, and the cultural recognition of a historically marginalized group, on the other” (438).
5 There is a nascent, yet growing interest in scholarly literature at the intersection of street naming and gendering the urban streetscape. Scholars and activists in recent years are exploringefforts at naming more streets after women. Bigon and Zuvalinyenga offer a review of such efforts in Global South city streets, and Rose-Redwood in his article “Number to Name” considers the NYC-specific example of Mary McLeod Bethune Place.
6Stuyvesant Town was built over demolished gas tanks in what was called the Gas House District (now there’s a renaming for development reasons!) in a public-private partnership with Metropolitan Life Insurance. The complex was offered as affordable housing for returning WWII veterans and their families and has its own racist history, as African-Americans were barred from renting there; activists sued, and lost. Bedford-Stuyvesant slightly overlaps the northern extent of Weeksville, a village of free Black property owners founded in the 1830s that is mostly in Crown Heights, but with overlap. 3. Stuyvesant High School, established 1904, is one of NYC’s so-called specialized public high schools, and requires an extremely competitive entrance test; this policy is very controversial, as very few Black students qualify for admission, and the percentage is declining.
NEW YORK CITY PLANS: A BRIEF BACKGROUND Two massive planning efforts in New York during the 19th and 20th century framed the direction for the city’s intensive development during the next two centuries. First, New York’s 1811 street grid plan mapped out Manhattan’s transformation from mostly bucolic field and farmland to rapidly growing city. Among other things, the grid plan established Manhattan’s system of numbered streets and avenues from south to north. Coming about 100 years later, “the insane 1915 renumbering system in Queens,” says AAG member, geographer, and historian Tamar Rothenberg, “was intended to create borough-wide order from the independently developed merged towns and villages of Queens and Brooklyn,” the two western boroughs/counties on Long Island that were incorporated into New York City in 1898. By that time, the City of Brooklyn had already incorporated all of Kings County, but Queens was still a county of separate cities, towns, and villages. Rothenberg says, “There are some funny takes on how that plays out today,” and recommends this overview from 2000 in the New York Times. —compiled with information provided by Tamar Rothenberg
For further reading, consider:
Names of New York, by Joshua Jelly-Schapiro (Penguin Random House, 2021).
Harold M. Rose Award for Anti-Racism Research and Practice
Deadline: September 15, 2026 (by midnight, EST)
This award honors geographers who have a demonstrated record of the type of research and active contributions to society that have marked Dr. Harold Rose’s career. The award will be given to those who have served to advance the discipline through their research, and who have also had on impact on anti-racist practice. The award is presented during the AAG’s Annual Meeting.
Criteria
Individuals are eligible, regardless of their status as AAG members.
Nominations
Nominations must be received by the deadline (Eastern Standard Time). Nominations will include:
a brief (500 word maximum) description of the reasons why the nominee should be selected;
at least 2, but no more than 3, letters of recommendation. Letters of recommendation are directly requested from references in the application portal.
As with all other AAG awards, eligibility also rests on the candidate being in compliance with the AAG Professional Conduct Policy. Nominations may be rescinded, and the award may also be revoked for any candidate or awardee who is found in violation of the AAG’s Professional Conduct Policy.
About the Award:
This award honors Dr. Harold M. Rose, who was a pioneer in conducting research on the conditions faced by African Americans. Rose received his Ph.D. at Ohio State University in 1960, whereupon he began a joint appointment in the departments of Geography and Urban Studies at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. He has devoted his career to expanding the discipline of geography into anti-racist scholarship, an area that had been virtually ignored. Dr. Rose conducted research on the black Ghetto, blacks and Cubans in Miami, and the quality of life in black communities, especially the exposure of many black communities to high rates of homicide. He also conducted research on black residential mobility and interregional migration. Rose became the first black president of the AAG in 1976. In 1977, he voiced the need to expand research into the experiences of blacks in his presidential address entitled “The Geography of Despair”. Dr. Harold Rose’s work reminds us that it is possible for scholars to go beyond theoretical understanding of racism and other social practices to engage actual communities and to make a difference in human life.
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2025
Bronwen Powell
Dr. Bronwen Powell, associate professor in the Department of Geography at Penn State University, has an exceptional record in scholarship focused on Indigenous agrobiodiversity, food and nutrition systems, and international development, grounded in the principles of social justice and anti-racism. She’s been a strong public advocate for Indigenous food sovereignty through her interdisciplinary collaborations and scholarship engagement. As the associate head for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in her department, Dr. Powell spearheaded new initiatives that were centered around Indigenous geographies and was recognized for her leadership and commitment to promoting an inclusive academic environment for students and faculty. Dr. Powell has distinguished herself through her strong dedication to anti-racism scholarship and praxis that seems to center Indigenous and African voices and perspectives. The AAG is pleased to honor Dr. Powell with the Harold M. Rose Award for Anti-Racism Research and Practice.
2025 AAG Harold M. Rose Award for Anti-Racism Research and Practice
Bronwen Powell
2025 AAG Harold M. Rose Award for Anti-Racism Research and Practice
Dr. Bronwen Powell, associate professor in the Department of Geography at Penn State University, has an exceptional record in scholarship focused on Indigenous agrobiodiversity, food and nutrition systems, and international development, grounded in the principles of social justice and anti-racism. She’s been a strong public advocate for Indigenous food sovereignty through her interdisciplinary collaborations and scholarship engagement. As the associate head for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in her department, Dr. Powell spearheaded new initiatives that were centered around Indigenous geographies and was recognized for her leadership and commitment to promoting an inclusive academic environment for students and faculty. Dr. Powell has distinguished herself through her strong dedication to anti-racism scholarship and praxis that seems to center Indigenous and African voices and perspectives. The AAG is pleased to honor Dr. Powell with the Harold M. Rose Award for Anti-Racism Research and Practice.
2024
Nik Heynen
Dr. Nik Heynen has an exceptional record in anti-racism scholarship, with a focus on abolition geography. His work highlights the intricate connections between environmental racism, racial capitalism, and political ecology, making him one of the most prominent voices in anti-racism geographical research. Moreover, Dr. Heynen has incorporated anti-racism practices in his other endeavors in and out of the academy, including mentoring and advocating for future generations of anti-racism scholars, as well as translating scholarship into tangible and positive impacts on communities through anti-racist community engagement activities and initiatives.
Dr. Heynen’s research, which connects Black activist work to placemaking projects, exposes the workings of racial capitalism and the different ways Black communities reinvent political ecologies. This can be gleaned in his ongoing work on Gullah Geechee community geographies, his research on the Black Panthers, his work on abolition ecologies, and his deep commitment to working within and closely with the Sapelo Island community. His work with Antipode, which includes the now longstanding “Institute for Geographies of Justice” program, draws attention to just some of the ways he lifts up and supports junior faculty and Ph.D. students, which, as one of his referees notes, challenges academic hierarchies.
2024 AAG Harold M. Rose Award for Anti-Racism Research and Practice
Nik Heynen
2024 AAG Harold M. Rose Award for Anti-Racism Research and Practice
Dr. Nik Heynen has an exceptional record in anti-racism scholarship, with a focus on abolition geography. His work highlights the intricate connections between environmental racism, racial capitalism, and political ecology, making him one of the most prominent voices in anti-racism geographical research. Moreover, Dr. Heynen has incorporated anti-racism practices in his other endeavors in and out of the academy, including mentoring and advocating for future generations of anti-racism scholars, as well as translating scholarship into tangible and positive impacts on communities through anti-racist community engagement activities and initiatives.
Dr. Heynen’s research, which connects Black activist work to placemaking projects, exposes the workings of racial capitalism and the different ways Black communities reinvent political ecologies. This can be gleaned in his ongoing work on Gullah Geechee community geographies, his research on the Black Panthers, his work on abolition ecologies, and his deep commitment to working within and closely with the Sapelo Island community. His work with Antipode, which includes the now longstanding “Institute for Geographies of Justice” program, draws attention to just some of the ways he lifts up and supports junior faculty and Ph.D. students, which, as one of his referees notes, challenges academic hierarchies.
2023
Malini Ranganathan
Dr. Malini Ranganathan, Associate Professor at American University’s School of International Service, stands out for her sustained and exceptional contributions to debates in racial geographies, political ecology, and urban geography, as well as for her antiracist institutional leadership, intellectual mentorship, community engagement, and advancement of geography.
Dr. Ranganathan’s scholarship engages how processes of racialization, racial capitalism, and racial liberalism can be understood both within and beyond European and American contexts and articulate with projects of coloniality, casteism, ethno-nationalism, and Islamophobia. She studies these macro historical processes primarily in the context of cities and their spatial, housing, and ecological inequities. Her recent work continues her engagement in a deep and ongoing dialogue and study with Dalit-led anti-caste social movements in India that is aimed at supporting their struggles. Her work rigorously establishes and carefully develops crucial transnational connections. Focusing on water access exclusion in peripheral urban areas in both the U.S. and in India, she has called for “comparative learning” on the politics of informality. Within the U.S., her scholarship focuses on anti-Black and anti-Latinx racisms related to water, housing, and climate change, including work on governance and water tragedy in Flint, MI and abolition ecologies, featured and stimulating discourse in popular press and media. Her teaching and institutional service convey her intellectual rigour and care as well, most notably in her role as the interim director of the Center for Anti-racism at American University, cultivating a leadership model to foster a diffuse and inclusive shared governance infrastructure, centering on especially diverse groups of women of color.
Harold M. Rose was a pioneer in geographical research and practice engaging anti-racism and focusing on the social conditions faced by African Americans. Rose’s work is a reminder that scholars can and must go beyond theoretical understandings of racism and intersecting conditions of oppression to make a difference in actual communities. Dr. Ranganathan’s prolific combination of research, mentorship, teaching, and community-building carries the torch of Rose’s work and his commitment to geographical anti-racist praxis.
2023 AAG Harold M. Rose Award for Anti-Racism Research and Practice
Malini Ranganathan
2023 AAG Harold M. Rose Award for Anti-Racism Research and Practice
Dr. Malini Ranganathan, Associate Professor at American University’s School of International Service, stands out for her sustained and exceptional contributions to debates in racial geographies, political ecology, and urban geography, as well as for her antiracist institutional leadership, intellectual mentorship, community engagement, and advancement of geography.
Dr. Ranganathan’s scholarship engages how processes of racialization, racial capitalism, and racial liberalism can be understood both within and beyond European and American contexts and articulate with projects of coloniality, casteism, ethno-nationalism, and Islamophobia. She studies these macro historical processes primarily in the context of cities and their spatial, housing, and ecological inequities. Her recent work continues her engagement in a deep and ongoing dialogue and study with Dalit-led anti-caste social movements in India that is aimed at supporting their struggles. Her work rigorously establishes and carefully develops crucial transnational connections. Focusing on water access exclusion in peripheral urban areas in both the U.S. and in India, she has called for “comparative learning” on the politics of informality. Within the U.S., her scholarship focuses on anti-Black and anti-Latinx racisms related to water, housing, and climate change, including work on governance and water tragedy in Flint, MI and abolition ecologies, featured and stimulating discourse in popular press and media. Her teaching and institutional service convey her intellectual rigour and care as well, most notably in her role as the interim director of the Center for Anti-racism at American University, cultivating a leadership model to foster a diffuse and inclusive shared governance infrastructure, centering on especially diverse groups of women of color.
Harold M. Rose was a pioneer in geographical research and practice engaging anti-racism and focusing on the social conditions faced by African Americans. Rose’s work is a reminder that scholars can and must go beyond theoretical understandings of racism and intersecting conditions of oppression to make a difference in actual communities. Dr. Ranganathan’s prolific combination of research, mentorship, teaching, and community-building carries the torch of Rose’s work and his commitment to geographical anti-racist praxis.
2022
Caroline Faria
Caroline Faria, for her sustained engagement with debates in feminist geographies, Black geographies, and postcolonial geographies, which she has deeply entwined with her mentorship praxis and decolonial vision. In addition, her mentorship through research collaboration and writing is enhanced by her leadership in national and international organizing and leadership. The Feminist Geography Collective,which she formed in 2016, is a supportive research hub providing a space for young women geographers and geographers of color to share ideas, develop research and teaching skills, present papers, produce alternative digital maps, and engage in activist scholarship. Further, Dr. Faria contributes extensively to diversity and racial justice initiatives at the university level, leading efforts to hire and support Black geographers at her home institution, the University of Texas at Austin, where her teaching and pedagogical practice have been recognized by three major awards at UT-Austin.
2022 AAG Harold M. Rose Award for Anti-Racism Research and Practice
Caroline Faria
2022 AAG Harold M. Rose Award for Anti-Racism Research and Practice
Caroline Faria, for her sustained engagement with debates in feminist geographies, Black geographies, and postcolonial geographies, which she has deeply entwined with her mentorship praxis and decolonial vision. In addition, her mentorship through research collaboration and writing is enhanced by her leadership in national and international organizing and leadership. The Feminist Geography Collective,which she formed in 2016, is a supportive research hub providing a space for young women geographers and geographers of color to share ideas, develop research and teaching skills, present papers, produce alternative digital maps, and engage in activist scholarship. Further, Dr. Faria contributes extensively to diversity and racial justice initiatives at the university level, leading efforts to hire and support Black geographers at her home institution, the University of Texas at Austin, where her teaching and pedagogical practice have been recognized by three major awards at UT-Austin.
2021
Dr. John Frazier
2021
Dr. John Frazier of Binghamton University has made crucial contributions to anti-racist knowledge and praxis in geography in his nearly four-decades-long career. His leadership as founder of the Race, Etnicity, and Place (REP) Conference is a hallmark of his contributions to challenge racsim in the discipline and beyond. REP is now in its second decade and features research across the discipline. Frazier has been instrumental in holding this event at a wide variety of universities, including HBCUs, to expose geography to more diverse audiences and students. Frazier’s research has addressed core issues in contemporary racial and ethnic geography and immigrant experiences. His work is widely used in teaching, and has paved a pathway into the discipline for generations of geographers. Frazier has played a significant role in institutionalizing a ciritical study of race, equity and inclusion in geography and making anti-racism part of the official, programmatic life of geographers.
2021 AAG Harold M. Rose Award for Anti-Racism Research and Practice
Dr. John Frazier
2021 AAG Harold M. Rose Award for Anti-Racism Research and Practice
2021
Dr. John Frazier of Binghamton University has made crucial contributions to anti-racist knowledge and praxis in geography in his nearly four-decades-long career. His leadership as founder of the Race, Etnicity, and Place (REP) Conference is a hallmark of his contributions to challenge racsim in the discipline and beyond. REP is now in its second decade and features research across the discipline. Frazier has been instrumental in holding this event at a wide variety of universities, including HBCUs, to expose geography to more diverse audiences and students. Frazier’s research has addressed core issues in contemporary racial and ethnic geography and immigrant experiences. His work is widely used in teaching, and has paved a pathway into the discipline for generations of geographers. Frazier has played a significant role in institutionalizing a ciritical study of race, equity and inclusion in geography and making anti-racism part of the official, programmatic life of geographers.
2020
Dr. Audrey Kobayashi
2020
Dr. Audrey Kobayashi exemplifies the ideals of the AAG Harold Rose Award, with a decades-long commitment to anti-racist research that has reshaped the discipline with impact far beyond university walls. In terms of research, Kobayashi has published on anti-racist practice in top field journals and in her Presidential addresses to the AAG “The Idea of Race in Geography,” and to CAG “What’s Race Got to Do with it? The Geography of Racialization in Canada.” Kobayashi’s writing is frequently taught in graduate courses, thus impacting the next generation of geographers in the project of building an anti-racist geography. She is an impressive model of anti-racist praxis, from her work advocating for employment equity in Canada to her involvement authoring commissioned reports on anti-racist practice, to her mentoring of early career underrepresented scholars and efforts to consult with university administrators. Of Kobayashi it has been said, “Rose’s effort to confront the “Geography of Despair” remains unfinished. However, as exemplified by the steadfast work of scholar-activists such as Professor Kobayashi, this work continues.”
2020 AAG Harold M. Rose Award for Anti-Racism Research and Practice
Dr. Audrey Kobayashi
2020 AAG Harold M. Rose Award for Anti-Racism Research and Practice
2020
Dr. Audrey Kobayashi exemplifies the ideals of the AAG Harold Rose Award, with a decades-long commitment to anti-racist research that has reshaped the discipline with impact far beyond university walls. In terms of research, Kobayashi has published on anti-racist practice in top field journals and in her Presidential addresses to the AAG “The Idea of Race in Geography,” and to CAG “What’s Race Got to Do with it? The Geography of Racialization in Canada.” Kobayashi’s writing is frequently taught in graduate courses, thus impacting the next generation of geographers in the project of building an anti-racist geography. She is an impressive model of anti-racist praxis, from her work advocating for employment equity in Canada to her involvement authoring commissioned reports on anti-racist practice, to her mentoring of early career underrepresented scholars and efforts to consult with university administrators. Of Kobayashi it has been said, “Rose’s effort to confront the “Geography of Despair” remains unfinished. However, as exemplified by the steadfast work of scholar-activists such as Professor Kobayashi, this work continues.”
2019
Katherine McKittrick
Dr. Katherine McKittrick of Queen’s University has not only contributed to the study of race and gender through her prodigious scholarly output, but she has been a consummate mentor to various students and faculty of color. She has also been one of the most high-profile advocates for the burgeoning field of Black Geographies. Through her work on numerous editorial boards, and as an associate editor of Antipode, she has worked to promote faculty and students of color and mentored junior scholars in writing and publishing in the discipline. Her efforts were recognized when she was awarded the inaugural Ban Righ Mentorship Award at Queen’s University. Dr. McKittrick has also been instrumental in seeing scholarship that engages with the perspectives of underrepresented persons made more visible in the discipline and in bridging the views of Black Studies, Women’s Studies, and Geography.
2019 AAG Harold M. Rose Award for Anti-Racism Research and Practice
Katherine McKittrick
2019 AAG Harold M. Rose Award for Anti-Racism Research and Practice
Dr. Katherine McKittrick of Queen’s University has not only contributed to the study of race and gender through her prodigious scholarly output, but she has been a consummate mentor to various students and faculty of color. She has also been one of the most high-profile advocates for the burgeoning field of Black Geographies. Through her work on numerous editorial boards, and as an associate editor of Antipode, she has worked to promote faculty and students of color and mentored junior scholars in writing and publishing in the discipline. Her efforts were recognized when she was awarded the inaugural Ban Righ Mentorship Award at Queen’s University. Dr. McKittrick has also been instrumental in seeing scholarship that engages with the perspectives of underrepresented persons made more visible in the discipline and in bridging the views of Black Studies, Women’s Studies, and Geography.
2018
Laura Pulido
2018
Laura Pulido,University of Oregon has significantly impacted the study of race and the environment. Pulido’s work on environmental racism is path-breaking and documents the pivotal role of white privilege and white supremacy in the uneven geography of environmental hazard exposure. Also, her book Black, Brown, Yellow, and Left is a seminal piece of scholarship that has driven conversations in Geography and Ethnic and Racial studies about race, politics, and anti-racist activism. In addition to these scholarly contributions, Dr. Pulido is tireless in helping new generations of scholars enter into the field. Like Harold Rose himself, who mentored generations of students at U. Wisconsin- Milwaukee, Professor Pulido’s generous support of students and colleagues in geography is a vital part of her anti-racist praxis.
2018 AAG Harold M. Rose Award for Anti-Racism Research and Practice
Laura Pulido
2018 AAG Harold M. Rose Award for Anti-Racism Research and Practice
2018
Laura Pulido,University of Oregon has significantly impacted the study of race and the environment. Pulido’s work on environmental racism is path-breaking and documents the pivotal role of white privilege and white supremacy in the uneven geography of environmental hazard exposure. Also, her book Black, Brown, Yellow, and Left is a seminal piece of scholarship that has driven conversations in Geography and Ethnic and Racial studies about race, politics, and anti-racist activism. In addition to these scholarly contributions, Dr. Pulido is tireless in helping new generations of scholars enter into the field. Like Harold Rose himself, who mentored generations of students at U. Wisconsin- Milwaukee, Professor Pulido’s generous support of students and colleagues in geography is a vital part of her anti-racist praxis.
2017
Melissa Wright
2017
Dr. Melissa Wright, for her path breaking work in Mexico and on the US-Mexico border, especially for bringing attention to the plight of women and student activists in Mexico. Dr. Wright’s work is a powerful testament to her commitment to social justice and anti-racist research. Most importantly, her research underscores related struggles across the Americas, and highlights the use of geography and our methodological and empirical tools to understand the plight of the working poor, and provides vulnerable communities with those tools.
2017 AAG Harold M. Rose Award for Anti-Racism Research and Practice
Melissa Wright
2017 AAG Harold M. Rose Award for Anti-Racism Research and Practice
2017
Dr. Melissa Wright, for her path breaking work in Mexico and on the US-Mexico border, especially for bringing attention to the plight of women and student activists in Mexico. Dr. Wright’s work is a powerful testament to her commitment to social justice and anti-racist research. Most importantly, her research underscores related struggles across the Americas, and highlights the use of geography and our methodological and empirical tools to understand the plight of the working poor, and provides vulnerable communities with those tools.
2016
Joe T. Darden
2016
Dr. Joe T. Darden is a committed anti-racist whose research and civic contributions mark him as someone dedicated to change. His research offers a board perspective on the many racialized groups that live in North American cities, and the ways in which their spatial insertion in the city is related to poverty. health, housing, and access to civic participation. Darden has been a strong public advocate for anti-racism, contributing in various ways to the Chicago Board of Education, the State of Michigan Task Force on Minority Health Affairs. the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Detroit Police Force. He has made many important contributions to the discipline of geography, including serving on numerous committees of the AAG and especially as Chair of the Enhancing Diversity Committee
2016 AAG Harold M. Rose Award for Anti-Racism Research and Practice
Joe T. Darden
2016 AAG Harold M. Rose Award for Anti-Racism Research and Practice
2016
Dr. Joe T. Darden is a committed anti-racist whose research and civic contributions mark him as someone dedicated to change. His research offers a board perspective on the many racialized groups that live in North American cities, and the ways in which their spatial insertion in the city is related to poverty. health, housing, and access to civic participation. Darden has been a strong public advocate for anti-racism, contributing in various ways to the Chicago Board of Education, the State of Michigan Task Force on Minority Health Affairs. the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Detroit Police Force. He has made many important contributions to the discipline of geography, including serving on numerous committees of the AAG and especially as Chair of the Enhancing Diversity Committee
2015
Bobby M. Wilson
2015
Dr. Bobby M. Wilson’s career exemplifies the principles for which the Harold M. Rose Award was established. Wilson’s path-breaking research agenda examines the socio-spatial dialectics of race and class in the United States, and he demonstrates not only how racism perpetuates inequality but also how capitalism, in its structural dependence on inequality, perpetuates racism. His multi-scalar studies America’s Johannesburg and Race and Class in Birmingham are rooted in his own experiences. In childhood he struggled to understand why his mother’s best job opportunities were hundreds of miles from home. Later on, as a doctoral student at Clark University, he consolidated his direct experience under the theoretical frame of historical materialism. Generations of students of Wilson’s work have learned how struggle might be better organized and developed. His leadership roles as a geographer, researcher, writer, teacher, mentor and community resource are the reasons why the AAG is pleased to recognize Bobby Wilson with this award
2015 AAG Harold M. Rose Award for Anti-Racism Research and Practice
Bobby M. Wilson
2015 AAG Harold M. Rose Award for Anti-Racism Research and Practice
2015
Dr. Bobby M. Wilson’s career exemplifies the principles for which the Harold M. Rose Award was established. Wilson’s path-breaking research agenda examines the socio-spatial dialectics of race and class in the United States, and he demonstrates not only how racism perpetuates inequality but also how capitalism, in its structural dependence on inequality, perpetuates racism. His multi-scalar studies America’s Johannesburg and Race and Class in Birmingham are rooted in his own experiences. In childhood he struggled to understand why his mother’s best job opportunities were hundreds of miles from home. Later on, as a doctoral student at Clark University, he consolidated his direct experience under the theoretical frame of historical materialism. Generations of students of Wilson’s work have learned how struggle might be better organized and developed. His leadership roles as a geographer, researcher, writer, teacher, mentor and community resource are the reasons why the AAG is pleased to recognize Bobby Wilson with this award
2014
Ruth Wilson Gilmore
2014
Dr. Ruth Wilson Gilmore’s tireless commitment to political activism, exploring complex racial and class formations, uneven development, and the African diaspora has changed the epistemological terrain of human geography as well as other cognate disciplines. Dr. Wilson Gilmore has said that her work explores both “the dire and the hopeful.” Asking crucial questions about the ways movement and labor reconfigure and reshape landscapes of both production and consumption, Dr. Wilson Gilmore’s career demonstrates a lifelong commitment towards asking how individuals employ power in ways that enhance life opportunities rather than guaranteeing premature death. Given her important anti-racist and anti-sexist research agenda, she is a fitting awardee for the Harold M. Rose Award.
2014 AAG Harold M. Rose Award for Anti-Racism Research and Practice
Ruth Wilson Gilmore
2014 AAG Harold M. Rose Award for Anti-Racism Research and Practice
2014
Dr. Ruth Wilson Gilmore’s tireless commitment to political activism, exploring complex racial and class formations, uneven development, and the African diaspora has changed the epistemological terrain of human geography as well as other cognate disciplines. Dr. Wilson Gilmore has said that her work explores both “the dire and the hopeful.” Asking crucial questions about the ways movement and labor reconfigure and reshape landscapes of both production and consumption, Dr. Wilson Gilmore’s career demonstrates a lifelong commitment towards asking how individuals employ power in ways that enhance life opportunities rather than guaranteeing premature death. Given her important anti-racist and anti-sexist research agenda, she is a fitting awardee for the Harold M. Rose Award.
2013
(Inaugural) The late Donald R. Deskins, Jr.
2013(Inaugural)
The late Donald R. Deskins, Jr., professor emeritus of sociology and urban geography at the University of Michigan. In his highly productive career, he made important scholarly contributions to our understanding of racial dynamics in American society. He was also known as a demanding, but compassionate mentor, including to many individuals from under-represented backgrounds. His leadership inspired more geographers of color to pursue geography as a career choice. His research and active contributions honored and reflected the career of Harold M. Rose.
2013 AAG Harold M. Rose Award for Anti-Racism Research and Practice
(Inaugural) The late Donald R. Deskins, Jr.
2013 AAG Harold M. Rose Award for Anti-Racism Research and Practice
2013(Inaugural)
The late Donald R. Deskins, Jr., professor emeritus of sociology and urban geography at the University of Michigan. In his highly productive career, he made important scholarly contributions to our understanding of racial dynamics in American society. He was also known as a demanding, but compassionate mentor, including to many individuals from under-represented backgrounds. His leadership inspired more geographers of color to pursue geography as a career choice. His research and active contributions honored and reflected the career of Harold M. Rose.
AAG Regions Connect & Geographies of Infrastructure
By Emily Yeh
The AAG Regions Connect events in October point the way to the future of AAG meetings—and also highlight the vital role of an equitable digital infrastructure for the US.
The next important deadline for paper presenters at #AAG2022 is the October 19 deadline for abstract submission. Please note that registration rates will also increase in all categories after that day. Poster abstracts will be accepted until January 6, 2022. All abstracts can be edited until January 13, 2021. While virtual attendees may only present their work in virtual sessions, in-person registrants may present in either in-person or virtual sessions. As a reminder, the AAG accepts all submitted abstracts and organized sessions for presentation.
Support Geographers – Volunteer to be Part of the AAG Jobs and Careers Center
The AAG seeks panelists, career mentors, workshop leaders and session organizers for careers and professional development activities at the 2022 AAG Annual Meeting in New York City. Individuals representing a broad range of employment sectors, organizations, academic and professional backgrounds, and racial/ethnic/gender perspectives are encouraged to apply. If interested in organizing or participating in a career or professional development event, pleasesee the Call for Participation. For best consideration, please submit your information by November 4, 2021.
Mark your calendar for the AAG Annual Meeting in the Big Apple, February 25 – March 1, 2022. The hybrid meeting will take place both online and at the NY Hilton Midtown and the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel. We look forward to seeing you in New York City!
NEW The Professional Geographer Issue Alert: Articles with topics ranging from the more-than-human state to the use of blogs in human geography research
All AAG members have full online access to all issues of The Professional Geographer through the Members Onlypage. Each issue, the Editors choose one article to make freely available. In this issue you can read Engaged Convergence Research: An Exploratory Approach to Heat Resilience in Mobile Homesby Lora A. Phillips, Patricia Solís, Chuyuan Wang, Katsiaryna Varfalameyeva, & Janice Burnett for free for the next 3 months.
Several of the regional divisions of the AAG will host their annual meetings in-person and virtually during October and November. Six of the Regional Divisions are collaborating with AAG and the Applied Geography Conference for AAG Regions Connect: A Joint Climate-Forward Initiative happening Oct 14-16. For those who have not recently attended a regional division meeting, they provide an excellent way to connect with geographers in your area in a more intimate setting than the AAG Annual Meeting. The regional division meetings also promote a supportive environment for student presentations of geographic research. Students are encouraged to apply for the AAG Council Award for Outstanding Graduate Student and Undergraduate Student Paper at a Regional Meeting which awards students with travel funding to the AAG Annual Meeting.
Upcoming AAG Grants and Awards Deadlines – October 15 and November 1
Please consider submitting applications or nominations to four AAG grants and awards with approaching deadlines, three for students and one for career geographers. The AAG Marble-Boyle Undergraduate Achievement Awards aim to recognize excellence in academic performance by undergraduate students from the U.S. and Canada who are putting forth a strong effort to bridge geographic science and computer science. The biennial William L. Garrison Award for Best Dissertation in Computational Geography supports innovative research into the computational aspects of geographic science. The AAG Harold M. Rose Award for Anti-Racism in Research and Practice honors geographers who have served to advance the discipline through their research, and who have also had an impact on anti-racist practice. Lastly, the AAG Community College Travel Grants support outstanding students from community colleges, junior colleges, city colleges, or similar two-year educational institutions to attend the next AAG Annual Meeting. Community College Travel Grant applications are due November 1, 2021 while nominations and applications for the three awards are due October 15, 2021.
Selection Committee Members Sought: AAG Learning Series for Graduate Students
The AAG is seeking AAG members (faculty, professionals, and graduate students) to help with the selection process for workshop proposals that will support graduate students and early career geographers. If you are selected as a member on one of the Selection Committees, you will be paid upon completion of the workshop selection (sometime in the Summer of 2022). If you are interested in submitting a selection committee member application or want more information, go to bit.ly/aag-committee-apply.
Submit your application to be a selection committee member on or before Friday, October 15, 2021. The program is supported by AAG staff Julaiti Nilupaer and Coline Dony and you can reach them with any questions at research-during-covid [at] aag [dot] org.
AAG Welcomes Fall Interns
The AAG is excited to welcome two new interns coming aboard our staff for the Fall of 2021! Joining us this semester are Julianna Davis, a senior at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa pursuing a B.A. in Political Science along with a minor in Geography and Environment; Zachary Jarjoura, a senior at University of Maryland, College Park, pursuing a B.S. in geographical sciences with a minor in sustainability studies; and Sreya Juras, a recent graduate from The Ohio State University where she received a BS in International Development while minoring in Environmental Science and Spanish.
Become a GeoAdvocate for Geography Awareness Week November 14-20
This year, AAG celebrates Geography Awareness Week with the theme The Future Is Here: Geographers Pursue the Path Forward. Highlighting the many ways that geographers are anticipating and shaping a better future in their work, the week will also celebrate the contributions of early-career geographers and students of geography. Help us share information about geography as a GeoWeek GeoAdvocate. You’ll receive access to information resources that can help you promote the week in your department or organization. Sign up to be a GeoAdvocate.
You can also send us information about a GeoWeek event for inclusion in our map. Add your event here.
House Science Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Social Media Data Research
The following update comes from our colleagues at the Consortium of Social Science Associations (COSSA)
On September 28, the Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight within the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology (SST) held a hearing on social media platforms, data, and research focused on misinformation spread. Witnesses at the hearing included Professor and Interim Dean at Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University Dr. Alan Mislove; Ph.D. Candidate and Co-Director of Cybersecurity for Democracy at New York University Laura Edelson; and Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Department of Sociology Dr. Kevin Leicht.
Subcommittee Chair Bill Foster (D-IL), Ranking Member Jay Obernolte (R-CA), and Full Committee Chair Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) all expressed great concern about the role of social media algorithms in spreading misinformation and shared support for increasing access for researchers to study social media platforms. Specifically, Facebook was singled out by witnesses as a prime example of a “black box” social media platform that hinders research being conducted on their platform, hides algorithmic practices, and uses moderation tools on extremist content in an inconsistent manner. Members questioned the witnesses on a wide variety of topics including data sharing tools such as Facebook’s CrowdTangle and Twitter’s Firehose API, ethical practices that other social media platforms have used, the accessibility of data for researchers on social media, ethical issues with social media platform business models, and the potential for legislative action regarding social media data. Witness testimonies and a recording of the hearing are available on the SST Committee website.
Dr. Brady Foust, former chair of the Geography Department at University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire and fifty-year member of AAG, and his wife Jeanne Foust, who recently retired from a 30-year career at Esri, are donating $1 million to establish the Brady Foust Geospatial Analysis and Technology Double Major Scholarship. The scholarship will initially provide $10,000 a year to two students who enter the university in 2022-23 and two more to students entering in 2023-24, with the hopes of providing four more scholarships a year. Read more.
Christopher Fowler, associate professor of geography and director of the Peter R. Gould Center for Geography Education and Outreach at Penn State’s, hasbeen appointed to the Pennsylvania Redistricting Advisory Council,the only geographer in the stateto receive such an appointment. Fowler spoke last month in AAG’s Redistricting Series, serving on the Pennsylvania panel organized by Lee Hachadoorian, assistant professor of instruction at Temple University’s Department of Geography and Urban Studies. (Listen to the recording of that session here.)
RESOURCES AND OPPORTUNITIES
GISCI Announces December 2021 Exam Period
The next testing window for the GISCI Geospatial Core Technical Knowledge Exam® as a part of the GISP Certification has been scheduled and will once again be administered by PSI Online through their worldwide testing facilities in a computer-based testing (CBT) format. The exam will be held December 4 – 11, 2021. The Exam will be administered by PSI Online, a worldwide exam delivery company with over 70 years of experience in providing computer-based testing (CBT) facilities across the US, Canada, and around the world.
Propose a Session for New Meeting: Frontiers in Hydrology
The Frontiers in Hydrology Meeting is a new meeting created by the greater water community and co-sponsored by AGU and CUAHSI (Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc.). #FIHM22 aims to develop actionable solutions to some of the largest water problems facing our world today, incorporating topics such as managing scarce resources, learning from observations, understanding complex systems, and supporting environmental justice and equity. The meeting’s theme is the “Future of Water.” #FIHM22 will be 19-24 June 2022 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and online everywhere. We invite you to propose a session to help to shape this multidisciplinary meeting and encourage proposals that will:
Work well for audience interactions, including shorter talks, audience engagement, and time for questions and answers.
Provide access to all presentations and posters online (through pre-recordings, uploads, or live recordings)
Expand open discussion and engagement times.
We encourage session proposals with diverse groups of conveners and session chairs who can work together to broaden participation. Session proposals can also be collaborative with other groups within AGU and CUAHSI and we encourage proposals that are a collaboration with other professional organizations. By proposing a session, you will be helping to shape this transformative meeting.
National Council on Public History Award Deadlines
NCPH awards recognize excellence in the diverse ways public historians apply their skills to the world around us. The purpose of the award program is to promote professionalism and best practices among public historians and to raise awareness about their activities. Submissions for the Book Award and Kelley Award are due November 1; all other awards (the Outstanding Public History Project Award, New Professional Award, Excellence in Consulting, and Student Awards) are due December 1. Help us acknowledge extraordinary work by nominating yourself or a colleague. A full list of awards and submission details at http://ncph.org/about/awards/.
Upcoming Deadlines and Events from the Kauffman Foundation
Have you ever wanted to share your research with experts and decision-makers in a way that grabs their limited attention? Participate in the Plain Language: Executive Summaries Workshop. This free, virtual event will share strategies for:
Defining the target audience(s) for scholarly research.
Leveraging smart information design to create useable and persuasive documents.
Applying sentence-level edits to improve the readability of your work.
The virtual workshop will be held at 2 p.m. CST on November 9. Register
Thanks to a sponsorship from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the AAG is pleased to announce two annual awards for promising research studying geography and entrepreneurship: one for best paper and one for best student paper.
The purpose of Best Paper Awards in Geography & Entrepreneurship program is to identify innovative research in business, applied or community geography that is relevant to questions related to entrepreneurs and their firms as well as to practitioners and policymakers. Two awardees will receive a check for $1,500, complimentary meeting registration, and a complimentary ticket to the AAG Awards Luncheon. The runner up for each award will receive complimentary registration and a complimentary ticket to the AAG Awards Luncheon. Submit your applications by November 5, 2021 for consideration.
News from the National Science Foundation
The Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences (HEGS) program at the National Science Foundation has announced several staff changes and has revised the program’s synopsis to better articulate its objectives.Learn more.
IN MEMORIAM
Bobby Wilson, a widely recognized leader in anti-racist scholarship and Emeritus Professor of Geography at the University of Alabama, passed away on August 25th, 2021. Wilson’s career was spent teaching in Alabama, first at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and then at the University of Alabama (in Tuscaloosa), where he was devoted to exploring the links between the civil rights movement, industrialization, and the exploitation of black labor. Wilson was recognized by the AAG with a Presidential Achievement Award in 2012, and both a Rose Award for Anti-Racism Research and Practice and the AAG Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015. More.
Sanford H. Bederman, 89, of Johns Creek, Georgia, died on 19 August 2021 from complications of cancer. An Honorary Life Member of the Southeastern Division of the Association of American Geographers, and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, Bederman taught at Georgia State University for 34 years. Bederman was primarily interested in geographies of Africa and also served in the U.S. Army in Germany during the 1950s. More.
Anthony O. Gabriel, professor of geography at Central Washington University, died Tuesday, September 14, 2021, after a valiant 14-month battle with cancer. He was 56. A geography professor for 20 years at Central Washington University, Gabriel also taught at Western Washington University and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. A mentor to many, he supervised over 30 Masters of Science students as well as new faculty. More.
The AAG Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award
Deadline: September 15, 2026 (by midnight, EST)
The AAG Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring award is given annually to an individual geographer, group, or department who has demonstrated extraordinary leadership in building supportive academic and professional environments in their departments, associations, and institutions and guiding the academic and or professional growth of their students and junior colleagues. It is named in honor and memory of the late Susan Hardwick, the inaugural recipient of this award and a beloved mentor, scholar and colleague.
Nominations are sought to recognize individuals, groups, or departments who have increased the number of students and faculty from underrepresented groups, improved the quality of their participation in geography or who have impacted the climate of a department, college, or institution toward greater inclusion. Self nominations are also welcomed.
The Awardee(s) will be invited to participate in an interview or contribute a publication for Journal of Geography in Higher Education that identifies and promotes specific mentoring practices that are replicable, effective and highly valued in order for these actions to be shared with the broader AAG community.
Eligibility
Individual geographers, groups, or departments are eligible for nomination. Nominations from a wide spectrum of mentors in the geography community are encouraged, including from academic, public, private, and non-profit sectors. The relationship may be between mentor and students or mentor and junior faculty or employees. Posthumous nominations are generally not accepted.
Criteria
The award will honor individuals, groups, or departments who consistently do one or more of the following:
Have succeeded in establishing formal, informal, or quasi formal channels for providing support to students, junior faculty and/or employees
Help to create a vital and engaged geography community at their home Institution or association.
Demonstrate a commitment to inclusion and to the particular advising and mentoring needs of individuals from traditionally underrepresented groups.
Have developed and carried out specific practices that are replicable, effective and highly valued.
Nominations
Nominations for the AAG Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Awardmust be received by the deadline (Eastern Standard Time). Complete nominations will include:
the nominee’s curriculum vitae, only if the nominee is an individual geographer
a concise (500 words maximum) yet specific description of the accomplishments that warrant selection according to the above criteria;
No more than three (3) letters of recommendation from other individuals (including mentees) The strongest applications will feature at least one supporting letter from a senior colleague.
As with all other AAG awards, eligibility also rests on the candidate being in compliance with the AAG Professional Conduct Policy. Nominations may be rescinded, and the award may also be revoked for any candidate or awardee who is found in violation of the AAG’s Professional Conduct Policy.
For questions or difficulties, please contact [email protected] or call the AAG at 202-234-1450.
Selections
Nominations for the AAG Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award will be reviewed jointly by the AAG JEDI Committee and the Committee on the Status of Women in Geography. A single awardee will be recommended to be approved by the AAG Council at their Fall meeting. No monetary prize is provided. Awards are presented at the Awards Ceremony during the AAG’s Annual Meeting.
AAG Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award Recipients
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2025
Leslie Duram
AAG’s Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award acknowledges Dr. Leslie Duram’s remarkable mentorship and lasting impact on students and colleagues. Dr. Duram, Professor of Geography and Environmental Resources and Director of the Environmental Studies minor at Southern Illinois University, has advised numerous graduate students, including those from underrepresented backgrounds and helped them achieve career success. Her unparalleled dedication to mentoring students extends to undergraduate students in the Environmental Studies minor as she provides all aspects of professional development opportunities. Dr. Duram’s exceptional mentorship and unwavering support has reached many of her colleagues and contributed to fostering a vibrant and engaged community in her department, university, and the geography discipline. As the department chair, she has been a supportive and inspirational colleague and mentor to her faculty colleagues for personal and professional growth. Her remarkable mentorship was highly recognized by prestigious awards such as Teaching Excellence Award and University Women’s Professional Advancement (UWPA) Mentorship Award by her institution (SIU).
Students and colleagues of Dr. Duram have extensively shared the deep impacts of her genuine compassion for their personal well-being and continued growth into successful scholars, educators, and professionals. With an innate understanding of each individual’s strengths and potential, Dr. Duram has skillfully provided the tools and opportunities necessary for success. Her dedication to caring for varied needs, nurturing talent, and promoting a culture of continuous learning has made an indelible impact on her students and peers. Dr. Duram’s mentorship is a shining example of dedication and excellence.
2025 AAG Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award
Leslie Duram
2025 AAG Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award
AAG’s Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award acknowledges Dr. Leslie Duram’s remarkable mentorship and lasting impact on students and colleagues. Dr. Duram, Professor of Geography and Environmental Resources and Director of the Environmental Studies minor at Southern Illinois University, has advised numerous graduate students, including those from underrepresented backgrounds and helped them achieve career success. Her unparalleled dedication to mentoring students extends to undergraduate students in the Environmental Studies minor as she provides all aspects of professional development opportunities. Dr. Duram’s exceptional mentorship and unwavering support has reached many of her colleagues and contributed to fostering a vibrant and engaged community in her department, university, and the geography discipline. As the department chair, she has been a supportive and inspirational colleague and mentor to her faculty colleagues for personal and professional growth. Her remarkable mentorship was highly recognized by prestigious awards such as Teaching Excellence Award and University Women’s Professional Advancement (UWPA) Mentorship Award by her institution (SIU).
Students and colleagues of Dr. Duram have extensively shared the deep impacts of her genuine compassion for their personal well-being and continued growth into successful scholars, educators, and professionals. With an innate understanding of each individual’s strengths and potential, Dr. Duram has skillfully provided the tools and opportunities necessary for success. Her dedication to caring for varied needs, nurturing talent, and promoting a culture of continuous learning has made an indelible impact on her students and peers. Dr. Duram’s mentorship is a shining example of dedication and excellence.
2024
Derek Alderman
Dr. Derek Alderman is recognized for his outstanding and impactful contributions to mentorship of students and early career faculty colleagues. The committee particularly noted the caring and inclusive environment Dr. Alderman creates which supports a highly valued climate of collegiality within the University of Tennessee Department of Geography and Sustainability, the impressive number of students mentored throughout his career, his holistic “coaching up” mentorship style that centers diversity, equity, and inclusion, draws upon his own life experience, and goes far beyond a one-size-fits-all mentorship approach. The committee was moved by the testimonies and letters of support submitted by Dr. Alderman’s mentees which embody the spirit, memory, and legacy of the late Dr. Susan Hardwick.
2024 AAG Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award
Derek Alderman
2024 AAG Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award
Dr. Derek Alderman is recognized for his outstanding and impactful contributions to mentorship of students and early career faculty colleagues. The committee particularly noted the caring and inclusive environment Dr. Alderman creates which supports a highly valued climate of collegiality within the University of Tennessee Department of Geography and Sustainability, the impressive number of students mentored throughout his career, his holistic “coaching up” mentorship style that centers diversity, equity, and inclusion, draws upon his own life experience, and goes far beyond a one-size-fits-all mentorship approach. The committee was moved by the testimonies and letters of support submitted by Dr. Alderman’s mentees which embody the spirit, memory, and legacy of the late Dr. Susan Hardwick.
2023
Heather A. Smith
Heather A. Smith, University of North Carolina Charlotte, is recognized for her outstanding style of mentorship that emulates, honors, and embodies the spirit, memory and legacy of the late Dr. Susan Hardwick.
Students and colleagues of Dr. Smith praise her generosity, inclusivity and focus on collaboration, service, and leadership. Dr. Smith is recognized for her commitment to providing more access, more opportunity, more attention, more care, more critical engagement, and more professional development than is typical in academia, all while exemplifying high standards for excellence and engagement. Further, she has provided students with the skills and resources they need to succeed as scholars and practitioners. She shows sustained interest in the continued growth, well-being, and success of current and former students and faculty colleagues. The far-reaching impacts of her style of mentorship are carried forward by her mentees into other spaces and places.
Dr. Smith’s professional interests and mentoring strengths have guided a generation of geography students in effective community engagement and in the ethical conduct of engaged research. Through highly impactful professional development meetings and other structured mentoring spaces and activities, Dr. Smith engages and guides students at every level, from undergraduate to Ph.D. She also sustains junior colleagues in effectively and successfully navigating academia and beyond. Her mentorship is exemplary and invaluable.
2023 AAG Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award
Heather A. Smith
2023 AAG Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award
Heather A. Smith, University of North Carolina Charlotte, is recognized for her outstanding style of mentorship that emulates, honors, and embodies the spirit, memory and legacy of the late Dr. Susan Hardwick.
Students and colleagues of Dr. Smith praise her generosity, inclusivity and focus on collaboration, service, and leadership. Dr. Smith is recognized for her commitment to providing more access, more opportunity, more attention, more care, more critical engagement, and more professional development than is typical in academia, all while exemplifying high standards for excellence and engagement. Further, she has provided students with the skills and resources they need to succeed as scholars and practitioners. She shows sustained interest in the continued growth, well-being, and success of current and former students and faculty colleagues. The far-reaching impacts of her style of mentorship are carried forward by her mentees into other spaces and places.
Dr. Smith’s professional interests and mentoring strengths have guided a generation of geography students in effective community engagement and in the ethical conduct of engaged research. Through highly impactful professional development meetings and other structured mentoring spaces and activities, Dr. Smith engages and guides students at every level, from undergraduate to Ph.D. She also sustains junior colleagues in effectively and successfully navigating academia and beyond. Her mentorship is exemplary and invaluable.
2022
David Lopez-Carr
David Lopez-Carr, UC Santa Barbara, for his demonstrated outstanding leadership in creating effective, structured mentorship avenues and for his clear, intentional work to diversify the discipline.
2022 AAG Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award
David Lopez-Carr
2022 AAG Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award
David Lopez-Carr, UC Santa Barbara, for his demonstrated outstanding leadership in creating effective, structured mentorship avenues and for his clear, intentional work to diversify the discipline.
2021
Hilda Kurtz
2021 Hilda Kurtz of the University of Georgia has mentored her students with hands-on facilitation of quality research papers and proposals with a high track record of funding success. Through journal editorship, she has mentored diverse early career scholars in academic publishing. She also co-founded the Franklin College Diversity and Inclusion Graduate Fellows Program, which establishes a local community of engagement around social justice. Kurtz has also developed a workshop series focused on work-life balance, emphasizing job market preparation and tanglible skills for success in academe, which have been forally integrated into the Geography Department’s required first year graduate student seminar.
2021 AAG Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award
Hilda Kurtz
2021 AAG Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award
2021 Hilda Kurtz of the University of Georgia has mentored her students with hands-on facilitation of quality research papers and proposals with a high track record of funding success. Through journal editorship, she has mentored diverse early career scholars in academic publishing. She also co-founded the Franklin College Diversity and Inclusion Graduate Fellows Program, which establishes a local community of engagement around social justice. Kurtz has also developed a workshop series focused on work-life balance, emphasizing job market preparation and tanglible skills for success in academe, which have been forally integrated into the Geography Department’s required first year graduate student seminar.
2020
Dr. Jeffery Roth
2020 Dr. Jeffery Roth of Stephen F. Austin State University is an excellent mentor, who advises students from a variety of backgrounds. He has demonstrated commitment to supporting students both professionally and personally, thus embodying the exemplary legacy of the late Susan Hardwick. Dr. Roth has served as Geography Club advisor, he continues to create lifelong learners, has received teaching awards, and actively participates, and encourages students to participate in, community activities. It is clear that Dr. Roth has shaped the lives of faculty, students, and members of the community in remarkable ways.
2020 AAG Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award
Dr. Jeffery Roth
2020 AAG Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award
2020 Dr. Jeffery Roth of Stephen F. Austin State University is an excellent mentor, who advises students from a variety of backgrounds. He has demonstrated commitment to supporting students both professionally and personally, thus embodying the exemplary legacy of the late Susan Hardwick. Dr. Roth has served as Geography Club advisor, he continues to create lifelong learners, has received teaching awards, and actively participates, and encourages students to participate in, community activities. It is clear that Dr. Roth has shaped the lives of faculty, students, and members of the community in remarkable ways.
2019
Lorraine Dowler
2019 Lorraine Dowler not only mentors at all levels, but is a strong advocate for her mentees. She is committed to the holistic development of her advisees (students or colleagues), and pays particular attention to the mental, physical, and emotional well-being of those with whom she interacts, especially new faculty learning to balance academia. Dr. Dowler’s advocacy of students and colleagues goes above and beyond the criteria listed for this AAG award. Besides her tireless advocacy for students and colleagues, she also continues to advise, research, publish, and contribute to the field of geography. For the qualities and characteristics that Dr. Dowler puts forth, and for her genuine concern for all those that work with her, she is a most deserving recipient of this award.
2019 AAG Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award
Lorraine Dowler
2019 AAG Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award
2019 Lorraine Dowler not only mentors at all levels, but is a strong advocate for her mentees. She is committed to the holistic development of her advisees (students or colleagues), and pays particular attention to the mental, physical, and emotional well-being of those with whom she interacts, especially new faculty learning to balance academia. Dr. Dowler’s advocacy of students and colleagues goes above and beyond the criteria listed for this AAG award. Besides her tireless advocacy for students and colleagues, she also continues to advise, research, publish, and contribute to the field of geography. For the qualities and characteristics that Dr. Dowler puts forth, and for her genuine concern for all those that work with her, she is a most deserving recipient of this award.
2018
David Kaplan
2018
David Kaplan of Kent State University is an exceptional mentor, serving as principal advisor to over 20 master’s thesis student committees and 11 PhD student committees, as well as serving on the committees of dozens of other student projects. Recent advisees refer to him as a “lifelong advisor” who has “enduring and genuine concern” for his students. In addition, his support of junior peers at his institution and elsewhere speaks to his commitment to offer sound counsel and valuable advice to others to advance their academic and professional paths. Kaplan’s extraordinary dedication and service to his department, institution and the AAG exemplify the many ways that he is committed to enhancing diversity and inclusion in geography.
2018 AAG Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award
David Kaplan
2018 AAG Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award
2018
David Kaplan of Kent State University is an exceptional mentor, serving as principal advisor to over 20 master’s thesis student committees and 11 PhD student committees, as well as serving on the committees of dozens of other student projects. Recent advisees refer to him as a “lifelong advisor” who has “enduring and genuine concern” for his students. In addition, his support of junior peers at his institution and elsewhere speaks to his commitment to offer sound counsel and valuable advice to others to advance their academic and professional paths. Kaplan’s extraordinary dedication and service to his department, institution and the AAG exemplify the many ways that he is committed to enhancing diversity and inclusion in geography.
2017
Beverly Mullings
2017 Beverly Mullings is a trailblazer in supporting mental health in academia through both her purposeful, strategic, and actionable advice to the people she supports and platforms she has built for individuals who have been afraid to speak out about mental health. Through her creation of a list serve on mental health and the academy and kickstarting the AAG’s mental health initiative she has been a persistent advocate for those most marginalized in our discipline. Dr. Mullings has also been integral in revitalizing both the Gender Studies program at Queen’s University and the Journal of Critical Race Inquiry.
2017 AAG Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award
Beverly Mullings
2017 AAG Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award
2017 Beverly Mullings is a trailblazer in supporting mental health in academia through both her purposeful, strategic, and actionable advice to the people she supports and platforms she has built for individuals who have been afraid to speak out about mental health. Through her creation of a list serve on mental health and the academy and kickstarting the AAG’s mental health initiative she has been a persistent advocate for those most marginalized in our discipline. Dr. Mullings has also been integral in revitalizing both the Gender Studies program at Queen’s University and the Journal of Critical Race Inquiry.
2016
Kenneth E. Foote
2016
Kenneth E. Foote, in recognition of his career-long dedication to being a mentor, but also in helping other to be successful mentors themselves. He has worked diligently to mentor department chairs and other leaders. He has tirelessly promoted and encouraged colleagues along their career paths, and he has been particularly committed to sharing effective means of mentoring graduate students and faculty. He was co-leader of the AAG’s Enhancing Departments and Graduate Education (EDGE) programs, and for more than 10 years he has organized and hosted Graduate Faculty Development Alliance workshops and Department Leadership workshops.
2016 AAG Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award
Kenneth E. Foote
2016 AAG Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award
2016
Kenneth E. Foote, in recognition of his career-long dedication to being a mentor, but also in helping other to be successful mentors themselves. He has worked diligently to mentor department chairs and other leaders. He has tirelessly promoted and encouraged colleagues along their career paths, and he has been particularly committed to sharing effective means of mentoring graduate students and faculty. He was co-leader of the AAG’s Enhancing Departments and Graduate Education (EDGE) programs, and for more than 10 years he has organized and hosted Graduate Faculty Development Alliance workshops and Department Leadership workshops.
2015
Susan Hardwick
2015
Susan Hardwick has, throughout her long and meritorious career, served as primary mentor or advisor to countless graduate and undergraduate students, as well as supporting K-12 geography teachers in Oregon, Texas, California and elsewhere. Through her service within the AAG and other professional organizations, she has contributed greatly to the mentoring of junior faculty members and graduate students. She has helped many young people enter into and pursue rewarding paths within our discipline, and has been an especially valuable mentor to women in geography. Besides directly mentoring women in the discipline, she has also worked to raise awareness of the experiences of women as they seek to become successful in their careers as geographers.
2015 AAG Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award
Susan Hardwick
2015 AAG Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award
2015
Susan Hardwick has, throughout her long and meritorious career, served as primary mentor or advisor to countless graduate and undergraduate students, as well as supporting K-12 geography teachers in Oregon, Texas, California and elsewhere. Through her service within the AAG and other professional organizations, she has contributed greatly to the mentoring of junior faculty members and graduate students. She has helped many young people enter into and pursue rewarding paths within our discipline, and has been an especially valuable mentor to women in geography. Besides directly mentoring women in the discipline, she has also worked to raise awareness of the experiences of women as they seek to become successful in their careers as geographers.
Anthony O. Gabriel, professor of geography at Central Washington University, died Tuesday, September 14, 2021, after a valiant 14-month battle with cancer. He was 56. He was called home to God at his home surrounded by his loving family.
Anthony was born to Oswald Gabriel and Ursula Duhr in Vancouver, B.C., Canada in October 1964. He grew up in Langley, B.C. and attended Trinity Western University. He went on to complete his Master’s degree at Western Washington University where he met and married his wife, Marikay Douvier. Anthony continued to complete his Ph.D. in Geography at the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario.
Anthony was a professor in the geography departments at Western Washington University, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and finally, for the last 20 years, at Central Washington University. Through is love of teaching and research, he helped to mold the future of many students. He always went over and above to serve his department and his students. He successfully supervised over 30 Masters of Science theses.
Together Anthony and Mari welcomed two children, Katie and Zach. Anthony was very proud and supportive of his children, as he was involved in their education, extra-curricular activities, and life lessons. He always encouraged his children to pursue their dreams and goals.
Anthony was a devout member of St. Andrew’s Catholic Church. He enjoyed camping and fishing, walking his dogs, playing pool in the Ellensburg Pool League and being a 4-H leader for On Target Shooting Sports.
Anthony was a remarkable, very generous, and caring person, completely devoted to his family. He mentored many young faculty members in the department of geography at Central Washington University, helping them navigate work-family balance. He will be especially missed for his hilarious (and unique) sense of humor and how he loved to make people laugh.
Anthony was preceded in death by his father, Oswald Gabriel. Anthony is survived by his wife Mari, daughter Katie, son Zach, mother Ursula Gabriel, sister Angela Gabriel-Morrissey, brother-in-law Chris Morrissey, as well as numerous in-laws (and out-laws), nephews and nieces.
AAG Regions Connect & Geographies of Infrastructure
By Emily Yeh
The AAG Regions Connect events in October point the way to the future of AAG meetings—and also highlight the vital role of an equitable digital infrastructure for the US.
The next important deadline for paper presenters at #AAG2022 is the October 19 deadline for abstract submission. Please note that registration rates will also increase in all categories after that day. Poster abstracts will be accepted until January 6, 2022. All abstracts can be edited until January 13, 2021. While virtual attendees may only present their work in virtual sessions, in-person registrants may present in either in-person or virtual sessions. As a reminder, the AAG accepts all submitted abstracts and organized sessions for presentation.
Support Geographers – Volunteer to be Part of the AAG Jobs and Careers Center
The AAG seeks panelists, career mentors, workshop leaders and session organizers for careers and professional development activities at the 2022 AAG Annual Meeting in New York City. Individuals representing a broad range of employment sectors, organizations, academic and professional backgrounds, and racial/ethnic/gender perspectives are encouraged to apply. If interested in organizing or participating in a career or professional development event, pleasesee the Call for Participation. For best consideration, please submit your information by November 4, 2021.
Mark your calendar for the AAG Annual Meeting in the Big Apple, February 25 – March 1, 2022. The hybrid meeting will take place both online and at the NY Hilton Midtown and the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel. We look forward to seeing you in New York City!
NEW The Professional Geographer Issue Alert: Articles with topics ranging from the more-than-human state to the use of blogs in human geography research
All AAG members have full online access to all issues of The Professional Geographer through the Members Onlypage. Each issue, the Editors choose one article to make freely available. In this issue you can read Engaged Convergence Research: An Exploratory Approach to Heat Resilience in Mobile Homesby Lora A. Phillips, Patricia Solís, Chuyuan Wang, Katsiaryna Varfalameyeva, & Janice Burnett for free for the next 3 months.
Several of the regional divisions of the AAG will host their annual meetings in-person and virtually during October and November. Six of the Regional Divisions are collaborating with AAG and the Applied Geography Conference for AAG Regions Connect: A Joint Climate-Forward Initiative happening Oct 14-16. For those who have not recently attended a regional division meeting, they provide an excellent way to connect with geographers in your area in a more intimate setting than the AAG Annual Meeting. The regional division meetings also promote a supportive environment for student presentations of geographic research. Students are encouraged to apply for the AAG Council Award for Outstanding Graduate Student and Undergraduate Student Paper at a Regional Meeting which awards students with travel funding to the AAG Annual Meeting.
Upcoming AAG Grants and Awards Deadlines – October 15 and November 1
Please consider submitting applications or nominations to four AAG grants and awards with approaching deadlines, three for students and one for career geographers. The AAG Marble-Boyle Undergraduate Achievement Awards aim to recognize excellence in academic performance by undergraduate students from the U.S. and Canada who are putting forth a strong effort to bridge geographic science and computer science. The biennial William L. Garrison Award for Best Dissertation in Computational Geography supports innovative research into the computational aspects of geographic science. The AAG Harold M. Rose Award for Anti-Racism in Research and Practice honors geographers who have served to advance the discipline through their research, and who have also had an impact on anti-racist practice. Lastly, the AAG Community College Travel Grants support outstanding students from community colleges, junior colleges, city colleges, or similar two-year educational institutions to attend the next AAG Annual Meeting. Community College Travel Grant applications are due November 1, 2021 while nominations and applications for the three awards are due October 15, 2021.
Selection Committee Members Sought: AAG Learning Series for Graduate Students
The AAG is seeking AAG members (faculty, professionals, and graduate students) to help with the selection process for workshop proposals that will support graduate students and early career geographers. If you are selected as a member on one of the Selection Committees, you will be paid upon completion of the workshop selection (sometime in the Summer of 2022). If you are interested in submitting a selection committee member application or want more information, go to bit.ly/aag-committee-apply.
Submit your application to be a selection committee member on or before Friday, October 15, 2021. The program is supported by AAG staff Julaiti Nilupaer and Coline Dony and you can reach them with any questions at research-during-covid [at] aag [dot] org.
AAG Welcomes Fall Interns
The AAG is excited to welcome two new interns coming aboard our staff for the Fall of 2021! Joining us this semester are Julianna Davis, a senior at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa pursuing a B.A. in Political Science along with a minor in Geography and Environment; Zachary Jarjoura, a senior at University of Maryland, College Park, pursuing a B.S. in geographical sciences with a minor in sustainability studies; and Sreya Juras, a recent graduate from The Ohio State University where she received a BS in International Development while minoring in Environmental Science and Spanish.
Become a GeoAdvocate for Geography Awareness Week November 14-20
This year, AAG celebrates Geography Awareness Week with the theme The Future Is Here: Geographers Pursue the Path Forward. Highlighting the many ways that geographers are anticipating and shaping a better future in their work, the week will also celebrate the contributions of early-career geographers and students of geography. Help us share information about geography as a GeoWeek GeoAdvocate. You’ll receive access to information resources that can help you promote the week in your department or organization. Sign up to be a GeoAdvocate.
You can also send us information about a GeoWeek event for inclusion in our map. Add your event here.
House Science Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Social Media Data Research
The following update comes from our colleagues at the Consortium of Social Science Associations (COSSA)
On September 28, the Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight within the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology (SST) held a hearing on social media platforms, data, and research focused on misinformation spread. Witnesses at the hearing included Professor and Interim Dean at Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University Dr. Alan Mislove; Ph.D. Candidate and Co-Director of Cybersecurity for Democracy at New York University Laura Edelson; and Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Department of Sociology Dr. Kevin Leicht.
Subcommittee Chair Bill Foster (D-IL), Ranking Member Jay Obernolte (R-CA), and Full Committee Chair Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) all expressed great concern about the role of social media algorithms in spreading misinformation and shared support for increasing access for researchers to study social media platforms. Specifically, Facebook was singled out by witnesses as a prime example of a “black box” social media platform that hinders research being conducted on their platform, hides algorithmic practices, and uses moderation tools on extremist content in an inconsistent manner. Members questioned the witnesses on a wide variety of topics including data sharing tools such as Facebook’s CrowdTangle and Twitter’s Firehose API, ethical practices that other social media platforms have used, the accessibility of data for researchers on social media, ethical issues with social media platform business models, and the potential for legislative action regarding social media data. Witness testimonies and a recording of the hearing are available on the SST Committee website.
Dr. Brady Foust, former chair of the Geography Department at University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire and fifty-year member of AAG, and his wife Jeanne Foust, who recently retired from a 30-year career at Esri, are donating $1 million to establish the Brady Foust Geospatial Analysis and Technology Double Major Scholarship. The scholarship will initially provide $10,000 a year to two students who enter the university in 2022-23 and two more to students entering in 2023-24, with the hopes of providing four more scholarships a year. Read more.
Christopher Fowler, associate professor of geography and director of the Peter R. Gould Center for Geography Education and Outreach at Penn State’s, hasbeen appointed to the Pennsylvania Redistricting Advisory Council,the only geographer in the stateto receive such an appointment. Fowler spoke last month in AAG’s Redistricting Series, serving on the Pennsylvania panel organized by Lee Hachadoorian, assistant professor of instruction at Temple University’s Department of Geography and Urban Studies. (Listen to the recording of that session here.)
RESOURCES AND OPPORTUNITIES
GISCI Announces December 2021 Exam Period
The next testing window for the GISCI Geospatial Core Technical Knowledge Exam® as a part of the GISP Certification has been scheduled and will once again be administered by PSI Online through their worldwide testing facilities in a computer-based testing (CBT) format. The exam will be held December 4 – 11, 2021. The Exam will be administered by PSI Online, a worldwide exam delivery company with over 70 years of experience in providing computer-based testing (CBT) facilities across the US, Canada, and around the world.
Propose a Session for New Meeting: Frontiers in Hydrology
The Frontiers in Hydrology Meeting is a new meeting created by the greater water community and co-sponsored by AGU and CUAHSI (Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc.). #FIHM22 aims to develop actionable solutions to some of the largest water problems facing our world today, incorporating topics such as managing scarce resources, learning from observations, understanding complex systems, and supporting environmental justice and equity. The meeting’s theme is the “Future of Water.” #FIHM22 will be 19-24 June 2022 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and online everywhere. We invite you to propose a session to help to shape this multidisciplinary meeting and encourage proposals that will:
Work well for audience interactions, including shorter talks, audience engagement, and time for questions and answers.
Provide access to all presentations and posters online (through pre-recordings, uploads, or live recordings)
Expand open discussion and engagement times.
We encourage session proposals with diverse groups of conveners and session chairs who can work together to broaden participation. Session proposals can also be collaborative with other groups within AGU and CUAHSI and we encourage proposals that are a collaboration with other professional organizations. By proposing a session, you will be helping to shape this transformative meeting.
National Council on Public History Award Deadlines
NCPH awards recognize excellence in the diverse ways public historians apply their skills to the world around us. The purpose of the award program is to promote professionalism and best practices among public historians and to raise awareness about their activities. Submissions for the Book Award and Kelley Award are due November 1; all other awards (the Outstanding Public History Project Award, New Professional Award, Excellence in Consulting, and Student Awards) are due December 1. Help us acknowledge extraordinary work by nominating yourself or a colleague. A full list of awards and submission details at http://ncph.org/about/awards/.
Upcoming Deadlines and Events from the Kauffman Foundation
Have you ever wanted to share your research with experts and decision-makers in a way that grabs their limited attention? Participate in the Plain Language: Executive Summaries Workshop. This free, virtual event will share strategies for:
Defining the target audience(s) for scholarly research.
Leveraging smart information design to create useable and persuasive documents.
Applying sentence-level edits to improve the readability of your work.
The virtual workshop will be held at 2 p.m. CST on November 9. Register
Thanks to a sponsorship from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the AAG is pleased to announce two annual awards for promising research studying geography and entrepreneurship: one for best paper and one for best student paper.
The purpose of Best Paper Awards in Geography & Entrepreneurship program is to identify innovative research in business, applied or community geography that is relevant to questions related to entrepreneurs and their firms as well as to practitioners and policymakers. Two awardees will receive a check for $1,500, complimentary meeting registration, and a complimentary ticket to the AAG Awards Luncheon. The runner up for each award will receive complimentary registration and a complimentary ticket to the AAG Awards Luncheon. Submit your applications by November 5, 2021 for consideration.
News from the National Science Foundation
The Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences (HEGS) program at the National Science Foundation has announced several staff changes and has revised the program’s synopsis to better articulate its objectives.Learn more.
IN MEMORIAM
Bobby Wilson, a widely recognized leader in anti-racist scholarship and Emeritus Professor of Geography at the University of Alabama, passed away on August 25th, 2021. Wilson’s career was spent teaching in Alabama, first at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and then at the University of Alabama (in Tuscaloosa), where he was devoted to exploring the links between the civil rights movement, industrialization, and the exploitation of black labor. Wilson was recognized by the AAG with a Presidential Achievement Award in 2012, and both a Rose Award for Anti-Racism Research and Practice and the AAG Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015. More.
Sanford H. Bederman, 89, of Johns Creek, Georgia, died on 19 August 2021 from complications of cancer. An Honorary Life Member of the Southeastern Division of the Association of American Geographers, and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, Bederman taught at Georgia State University for 34 years. Bederman was primarily interested in geographies of Africa and also served in the U.S. Army in Germany during the 1950s. More.
Anthony O. Gabriel, professor of geography at Central Washington University, died Tuesday, September 14, 2021, after a valiant 14-month battle with cancer. He was 56. A geography professor for 20 years at Central Washington University, Gabriel also taught at Western Washington University and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. A mentor to many, he supervised over 30 Masters of Science students as well as new faculty. More.
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This month, I am using the privilege of this space to reflect on the rising tide of nationalism, reactionary populism, and authoritarianism that has washed over the world in the last decade – from 
This award honors Dr. Harold M. Rose, who was a pioneer in conducting research on the conditions faced by African Americans. Rose received his Ph.D. at Ohio State University in 1960, whereupon he began a joint appointment in the departments of Geography and Urban Studies at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. He has devoted his career to expanding the discipline of geography into anti-racist scholarship, an area that had been virtually ignored. Dr. Rose conducted research on the black Ghetto, blacks and Cubans in Miami, and the quality of life in black communities, especially the exposure of many black communities to high rates of homicide. He also conducted research on black residential mobility and interregional migration. Rose became the first black president of the AAG in 1976. In 1977, he voiced the need to expand research into the experiences of blacks in his presidential address entitled “The Geography of Despair”. Dr. Harold Rose’s work reminds us that it is possible for scholars to go beyond theoretical understanding of racism and other social practices to engage actual communities and to make a difference in human life.
The AAG Regions Connect events in October point the way to the future of AAG meetings—and also highlight the vital role of an equitable digital infrastructure for the US.
The next important deadline for paper presenters at #AAG2022 is the October 19 deadline for abstract submission. Please note that registration rates will also increase in all categories after that day. Poster abstracts will be accepted until January 6, 2022. All abstracts can be edited until January 13, 2021. While virtual attendees may only present their work in virtual sessions, in-person registrants may present in either in-person or virtual sessions. As a reminder, the AAG accepts all submitted abstracts and organized sessions for presentation.
Mark your calendar for the AAG Annual Meeting in the Big Apple, February 25 – March 1, 2022. The hybrid meeting will take place both online and at the NY Hilton Midtown and the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel. We look forward to seeing you in New York City!
T
In addition to the most recently published journal, read the latest issue of the other AAG journals online:
Several of the regional divisions of the AAG will host their annual meetings in-person and virtually during October and November. Six of the Regional Divisions are collaborating with AAG and the Applied Geography Conference for 
Please consider submitting applications or nominations to four AAG grants and awards with approaching deadlines, three for students and one for career geographers. The 
The AAG is excited to welcome two new interns coming aboard our staff for the Fall of 2021! Joining us this semester are Julianna Davis, a senior at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa pursuing a B.A. in Political Science along with a minor in Geography and Environment; Zachary Jarjoura, a senior at University of Maryland, College Park, pursuing a B.S. in geographical sciences with a minor in sustainability studies; and Sreya Juras, a recent graduate from The Ohio State University where she received a BS in International Development while minoring in Environmental Science and Spanish.
This year, AAG celebrates Geography Awareness Week with the theme 
The following update comes from our colleagues at the Consortium of Social Science Associations (COSSA)
The next testing window for the GISCI Geospatial Core Technical Knowledge Exam® as a part of the GISP Certification has been scheduled and will once again be administered by PSI Online through their worldwide testing facilities in a computer-based testing (CBT) format. The exam will be held December 4 – 11, 2021. The Exam will be administered by PSI Online, a worldwide exam delivery company with over 70 years of experience in providing computer-based testing (CBT) facilities across the US, Canada, and around the world.
NCPH awards recognize excellence in the diverse ways public historians apply their skills to the world around us. The purpose of the award program is to promote professionalism and best practices among public historians and to raise awareness about their activities. Submissions for the Book Award and Kelley Award are due November 1; all other awards (the Outstanding Public History Project Award, New Professional Award, Excellence in Consulting, and Student Awards) are due December 1. Help us acknowledge extraordinary work by nominating yourself or a colleague. A full list of awards and submission details at 
Have you ever wanted to share your research with experts and decision-makers in a way that grabs their limited attention? Participate in the Plain Language: Executive Summaries Workshop. This free, virtual event will share strategies for:
Bobby Wilson, 
